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Factory revenue in the worldwide server market increased 3.1% year
over year to $14.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12) as
demand for x86 servers and high-end systems leads the way, data
released by IDC revealed.
This was the first quarterly increase of factory revenue in five
quarters. IDC says that worldwide server shipments decreased 3.9%
to 2.1 million units in 4Q12 when compared with the same period in
2011. For the full year 2012, worldwide server revenue decreased
1.9% to $51.3 billion when compared to 2011, while worldwide unit
shipments decreased 1.5% year over year to 8.1 million units.
On a year-over-year basis, volume systems and high-end systems
experienced 4.2% and 6.4% revenue growth to $9.1 billion and $4.1
billion respectively in 4Q12. At the same time, demand for midrange
systems experienced a year-over-year revenue decline of 10.0% to
$1.5 billion in 4Q12. The volume segment and high-end systems were
both buoyed by a favorable technology refresh cycle with volume
systems benefiting from continued demand for x86 servers deployed
as part of consolidation and virtualization initiatives while
increased spending for high-end systems was helped by strong demand
for IBM System z mainframes.
"Despite experiencing the first quarterly growth in factory revenue
in over a year, the server market continued to show signs of
lumpiness in the fourth quarter," said Matt Eastwood, group vice
president and general manager, Enterprise Platforms at IDC. "IDC
forecasted that server demand would begin to improve in the second
half of 2012 following a number of critical product refreshes which
occurred in the first half of the year. While this did happen in
the fourth quarter, market demand was uneven with the U.S.,
Asia/Pacific and Latin America all experiencing sharp growth, while
demand in all other regions remained soft. Average selling prices
for servers increased sharply in the quarter as large and small
enterprises continued to invest heavily in new server capacity to
drive additional consolidation and virtualization initiatives."
IBM held onto the number 1 spot in the worldwide server systems
market with 36.5% market share in factory revenue for 4Q12, as
revenue increased 3.1% year over year. IBM experienced improvements
in demand for its System z mainframes aided by a strong product
refresh cycle. The fourth quarter also delivered the highest
quarterly revenue IBM has achieved in System z in more than a
decade. HP held the number 2 spot with 24.8% share for the quarter
as revenue decreased 3.2% compared to 4Q11. Although HP experienced
solid demand for its x86-based ProLiant servers, it was offset by
weak Itanium-based Integrity server demand in the quarter. Dell
increased server revenue by 5.7% year over year and maintained
third place with 15.1% factory revenue market share in 4Q12. Three
companies shared the number 4 market position, with Oracle, Fujitsu
and Cisco all locked in a statistical tie in 4Q12. Additionally,
this was the first quarter that Cisco maintained a position in the
top 5 server rankings.
Top 5
Corporate Family, Worldwide Server Systems Factory
Revenue, Fourth Quarter of 2012 (Revenues are in Millions)
Vendor |
4Q12
Revenue |
4Q12 Market Share |
4Q11
Revenue |
4Q11 Market Share |
4Q12/4Q11 Revenue
Growth |
1.
IBM |
$5,343 |
36.5% |
$5,180 |
36.5% |
3.1% |
2. HP |
$3,626 |
24.8% |
$3,747 |
26.4% |
-3.2% |
3.
Dell |
$2,218 |
15.1% |
$2,098 |
14.8% |
5.7% |
4.
Oracle |
$602 |
4.1% |
$733 |
5.2% |
-17.8% |
4.
Fujitsu |
$501 |
3.4% |
$476 |
3.4% |
5.3% |
4.
Cisco |
$480 |
3.3% |
$319 |
2.2% |
50.7% |
Others |
$1,869 |
12.8% |
$1,641 |
11.6% |
13.9% |
All Vendors |
$14,639 |
100% |
$14,193 |
100% |
3.1% |
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server
Tracker, February 2013
Top 5 Corporate Family,
Worldwide Server Systems Factory Revenue, Full Year 2012
(Revenues are
in Millions)
Vendor |
2012
Revenue |
2012 Market Share |
2011
Revenue |
2011 Market Share |
2012/2011 Revenue
Growth |
1.
IBM |
$15,748 |
30.7% |
$16,454 |
31.5% |
-4.3% |
2. HP |
$14,149 |
27.6% |
$15,300 |
29.3% |
-7.5% |
3.
Dell |
$8,165 |
15.9% |
$7,814 |
15.0% |
4.5% |
4.
Oracle |
$2,660 |
5.2% |
$3,218 |
6.2% |
-17.4% |
5.
Fujitsu |
$2,070 |
4.0% |
$2,492 |
4.8% |
-16.9% |
5.
Cisco |
$1,610 |
3.1% |
$1,020 |
2.0% |
57.9% |
Others |
$6,873 |
13.4% |
$5,951 |
11.4% |
15.5% |
All Vendors |
$51,276 |
100% |
$52,249 |
100% |
-1.9% |
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server
Tracker, February 2013
Linux server demand was positively impacted by high performance
computing (HPC) and cloud infrastructure deployments, as hardware
revenue improved 12.7% year over year in 4Q12 to $3.0 billion.
Linux servers now represent 20.4% of all server revenue, up 1.7
points when compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.
Microsoft Windows server demand continued to increase in 4Q12 as
hardware revenue increased 3.2% year over year. Quarterly revenue
of $6.7 billion for Windows servers represented 45.8% of overall
quarterly factory revenue, the same share as in the prior year's
quarter.
Unix servers experienced a revenue decline of 24.1% year over year
to $2.6 billion representing 17.6% of quarterly server revenue.
This was the sixth consecutive quarter of revenue decline in the
Unix server market and all major Unix server vendors experienced a
revenue decline when compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.
After five consecutive quarters of revenue declines, IBM's System z
mainframe running z/OS increased revenue 55.6% year over year to
$1.8 billion, representing 12.3% of all server revenue in 4Q12.
"The IBM System z mainframe platform had its highest quarterly
revenue since 1997, generating nearly $2 billion and driving the
overall server market to positive growth in the quarter," said Jean
S. Bozman, Research Vice President in IDC's Enterprise Platforms
Group. "This dramatic growth was due to several factors: technology
refresh, new products such as zEnterprise, new accounts in emerging
economies, and consolidation of some enterprise Linux workloads
onto IBM System z, using the Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL)
specialty engines. Although revenue results for System z are
traditionally heavier in the fourth quarter, this accelerated
acquisition shows the breadth and depth of the IBM mainframe
installed base."
The x86 server market experienced sharp revenue growth in 4Q12 as
systems based on Intel's Sandy Bridge processor -- which was
launched in early 2012 -- experienced strong demand which helped
drive sharply higher average selling prices across the market. The
x86 server market accelerated in 4Q12, increasing 6.0% in the
quarter to $9.7 billion worldwide as unit shipments decreased 3.7%
to 2.1 million servers. Despite the shipment decline, this is the
highest quarterly revenue ever reported for x86 servers as the
architecture accounted for 66.2% of all server spending. HP's x86
factory revenue increased 4.4% and it continued to lead the market
with 32.7% revenue share. Dell experienced 5.7% year-over-year
growth in x86 server revenue and retained second place with 22.9%
revenue share. IBM continues to hold third place with 16.7% x86
server revenue share following a 2.3% year-over-year decline in
revenue. Cisco moved into the fourth position in the market with
5.0% revenue share as a result of 50.7% revenue growth when
compared to 4Q11, while Fujitsu and Oracle tied for fifth position
with 3.1% and 2.7% share respectively. As a result of a strong
demand throughout the year, worldwide x86 server revenue for 2012
increased 4.1% to $35.8 billion, while worldwide x86 unit shipments
decreased 0.4% to 8.0 million units.
Servers in the modular form factor categories also performed well
in 4Q12. There are two types of modular form factors, each with a
distinct use case. Blade servers, which are highly leveraged in
enterprises' virtualized environments, grew 3.3% year over year to
$2.4 billion. Blades now account for 16.3% of total server revenue.
HP maintained the number 1 spot in the blade server market in 4Q12
with 44.7% revenue share; IBM and Cisco followed in second and
third with 21.7% and 15.3% revenue share, respectively.
Density Optimized servers, utilized by large datacenters,
experienced very strong demand in 4Q12. Revenue grew 66.4% year
over year in 4Q12 to $705 million as unit shipments increased 44.2%
to just over 192,000 servers. Density Optimized servers now
represent 4.8% of all server revenue and 9.2% of all server
shipments. Dell maintained the number 1 spot in the Density
Optimized segment in 4Q12 with 50.8% revenue share. IBM and HP
finished second and third in revenue share with 12.8% and 9.1%,
respectively.
"Both types of modular form factors outperformed the overall server
market, indicating customers are increasingly favoring
specialization in their server designs" said Jed Scaramella,
research manager, Enterprise Servers "Density Optimized servers
were positively impacted by the growth of service providers in the
market. In addition to HPC, Cloud and IT service providers favor
the highly efficient and scalable design of Density Optimized
servers. Blade servers are being leveraged in enterprises'
virtualized and private cloud environments. IDC is observing an
increased interest from the market for converged systems, which use
blades as the building block. Enterprise IT organizations are
viewing converged systems as a method to simplify management and
increase their time to value." |